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David Samson's business interests overlap with work at Port Authority

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David Samson, shown here at Gov. Chris Christie's second-term inauguration, has used his high-level connections in the political and legal worlds as chairman of the Port Authority.
(Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — As chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson voted to award millions of dollars in Port Authority contracts to a company whose owner is represented by Samson’s law firm in a hotly contested and lucrative legal fight.

In the three years since Samson took over at the bistate agency, the Paterson-based Railroad Construction Company Inc. has received nearly $16 million in work on projects ranging from the World Trade Center to the Hackensack River Bridge, according to a Star-Ledger review of meeting minutes and contracts listed on the Port Authority’s website. The most recent contract was awarded last month, according to the website.

At the same time, two attorneys from Wolff & Samson are defending a part-owner of the company, Alfonso Daloisio, in a civil case set for trial in September.

The review provides the clearest demonstration yet of how Samson’s role as chairman of the massive economic engine that is the Port Authority and his role as head of one of the state’s most powerful law firms placed him in potential conflicts of interest.

It also shows a pattern in which Samson, a former state attorney general, represents clients on one hand and on the other votes in his role as chairman of the Port Authority on matters that benefit them.

Samson, one of the most prominent figures in New Jersey’s legal world and a longtime adviser to Gov. Chris Christie, has faced scrutiny since emails emerged linking him to the aftermath of the Port Authority closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge.

Though Port Authority chairmen draw no salary, the position is one of the most coveted in the region as they can influence how the agency spends money on projects. The review shows Wolff & Samson’s legal business has done well: Since he became chairman of the Port Authority, his firm has made at least $8.4 million from its contract work with the state and authorities, and its lobbying work grew to more than $1 million a year, according to latest records.

"The appearance of a conflict of interest is clearly there and whether he or the other commissioners wanted to make the argument that we’ve made this analysis objectively without regard for fact that the chairman or his firm was involved, it doesn’t pass the test of sensible," Jameson Doig, a Dartmouth professor and author of "Empire on the Hudson," a history of the Port Authority, said about the railroad company contracts.

Karen Kessler of Evergreen Partners, a public relations firm that represents Samson, stressed that Wolff & Samson is working for the owner of the Railroad Construction Company Inc. and not the company itself. “David Samson does not represent Railroad Construction Company, the company is a client of Kranjac Tripodi law firm,” she said in a statement.

The Port Authority did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Some of the biggest contracts awarded to Railroad Construction Company Inc. were for work on the agency’s most high-profile project. On April 29, 2012, Samson voted with the majority to hire the company for “work associated with the construction of One World Trade Center,” a contract worth $7.56 million.

Also, minutes from the June 26, 2013, meeting show Samson voted to retain Railroad Construction Company Inc. and nine other companies to be ready to work “on an as-needed basis throughout the World Trade Center site” for five years. The payments are expected to range from $25,000 to $5 million each time the company is called upon to work, with the entire payout for all the projects costing up to $50 million.

In the meantime, the Daloisio brothers have waged war in court in Burlington County over their half interest in each other’s railroad companies — one in North Jersey, one in South Jersey. The case has kept lawyers on both sides busy since 2010 with reams of documents and accusations.

Alfonso Daloisio Jr., who runs Railroad Construction Company Inc., said through his company’s attorney that he has never met or spoken to Samson.

“Railroad Construction Company Inc. has been providing services to the Port Authority for over 30 years, and the contracts that Railroad Construction Company Inc. has received from the Port Authority have all been in accordance with the Port Authority’s strict rules and regulations,” according to a statement from attorney Joseph Tripodi, who works for Kranjac Triodi & Partners, and previously worked for Wolff & Samson.

The other brother, Jim Daloisio, runs a sister company based in Paulsboro. He called the ongoing legal battle “incredibly frustrating and expensive.”

“We at Railroad Construction Company of South Jersey Inc. have always conducted our business above board and within the law,” Jim Daloisio said in an interview. “I am extremely troubled to learn that the company which I own 50 percent of and which is run by my brother may have improperly benefited from conflicts of interest.”

Records show Railroad Construction Company Inc. has also done a variety of work for the Port Authority under Samson’s watch with contracts awarded by the authority’s administration without votes. As of Aug. 1, according to a list of contracts on the Port Authority website, the company had a contract worth nearly $3.9 million to do deck and rail work on the Hackensack River Bridge.

A contract for track repairs at Greenville Yard associated with the NY & NJRR Cross Harbor Freight Project was increased by $4 million, according to the agency. And a contract for immediate repairs at Newark Liberty International Airport and Teterboro Airport was increased by $375,000.

In 2012 the Port Authority hired the company to do $50,000 in work at the World Trade Center site. In addition, a company spun off from Railroad Construction Company Inc., called RCC Builders & Developers Inc., was hired on March 29, 2012, to work on improvements to Terminal B International Arrivals at Newark airport. Most recently, on Jan. 16, the company was granted an extension on a $92,000 contract for emergency repairs.

Samson’s overlapping interests have cropped up in other contracts held by his law firm.
Samson’s firm represented a developer, the Rockefeller Group, that wanted to build in Hoboken — the city Mayor Dawn Zimmer says was denied Hurricane Sandy relief aid because she wouldn’t support the real estate deal.

Wolff & Samson was named bond counsel to the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the agency that runs the Atlantic City airport, which the Port Authority began running last year, WNYC reported.

Samson also voted for a $256 million reconstruction of the Harrison PATH station after a builder represented by Wolff & Samson proposed converting a nearby warehouse into luxury apartments, The Record reported.

Patrick Murray, a pollster at Monmouth University, said because unpaid commissioners are appointed, they escape the scrutiny brought to bear on elected officials, even though they control a huge budget.

“This is a way to get your business and associates a leg up on big contracts,” Murray said. “Do a favor for somebody and they’ll do a favor for you down the line.”

Murray said for someone to get to the point where they are appointed to the Port Authority, it’s a given they would have high-level contacts and clout.

“They tend to be people who are very entrenched in the business world and the political world,” Murray said. “You put them in the Port Authority and it is a recipe for conflict of interest.”